In wake of 9/11, Lawrence Wright was determined to discover
why it happened and what caused the sudden influx of fear and terror in the
world. As a response to the awful event, he decided to spend some time in the
Middle East looking for answers and writing a book about his findings. Soon after, My Trip to Al-Qaeda was created, a one-man show of Wright telling
the story of his journey complete with accompanying video footage.
Documentarian Alex Gibney (Taxi to the
Dark Side) has created a film using a combination of the live show clips,
news footage, and interviews telling Wright's story in a unique way.
While the documentary brings up some thought provoking
information about radical Islam, Wright dwells a bit too much on the more
specific experiences with family members of Al-Qaeda associates. There just isn't enough context that early
in the film to really get a feel for the direction Wright is heading in. Luckily, the second half picks up with
some particularly effective conclusions on why Al-Qaeda has no idea what they
are doing, and they are more or less making this all up as they go along. Radicalism isn't the only target here.
Wright uses this opportunity to assess the United States' role in all of this. If the whole film had been this powerful
and interesting the entire time, Gibney and Wright may have had an Oscar
contender.
Don't expect a wild or entertaining performance from Wright.
He's a writer that speaks like a writer.
It's unclear exactly at what point during the speaking tour this
particular performance was filmed, but he appears to be going through the
motions. There are moments of
passion and emotion, but for the most part it's a rather small performance
about big ideas. There are no extras
on the DVD worth mentioning; you are better off catching this as a rental or
whenever you can.
